Souki
by Narcina
Summary: A story of Washu's past taking place a few years before Ryoko is created. Souki is the Japanese word for remembering. Prologue and Chapter 1 are both up!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tenchi Muyo. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfics, I'd be writing episodes. Some very rich people own Tenchi Muyo, and I envy them. I also beg them not to sue me. I'm just a pathetic fan. Besides, I'm very attached to my penny, (that's right, all the money I have is a penny, ONE penny) and I don't want it taken from me.  
  
Souki (Remembering)  
  
Prologue  
"Kagato, have you managed to find my gems yet? I had them locked away perfectly; who could've stolen them? No one knows about them but the two of us." Washu said.  
"As a matter of fact, Washu, I have located you gems. It seems the thief took them all the way to a small, primitive planet called Earth. They don't seem to be moving. In fact, I don't believe they are in anyone's possession right now. Maybe the thief dropped them," Kagato replied. 'Damn fool. Why can't you carry out a task of simple theft?' He thought to himself, silently cursing at the idiocy of his hired help.  
"Good!" She exclaimed, "Maybe we can get to them before the thief notices they're gone."  
"I can go, Washu," Kagato offered. "You've got classes to teach. Finding the gems should be no problem at all."  
"My classes could easily do without me for a few days; the students might even consider it a blessing," She chuckled, "But you are just a student. I wouldn't want you falling behind in your schoolwork to go chasing down my gems."  
"No!" He exclaimed with just enough urgency in his voice to earn him a suspicious look from his diminutive teacher. "Let me do this. I want to prove to you how much you've taught me."  
"Well, okay. If you want to go that bad, then go ahead," She complied, though still a little leery about sending Kagato on this mission. "I guess I'll stay here and grace my students with the knowledge of The Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe!" 'Hmm, something about Kagato is very suspicious. I'll have to keep an eye on him.' She thought as she finished her little outburst.  
"You won't be disappointed, Professor," He assured. "I'll bring your gems back as soon as possible."  
"Well, we'll see about that. I'll gather the equipment you'll need; you should go ready the Souja." She suggested. 'For your sake, Kagato, I hope you aren't planning something evil.' She thought to herself as Kagato took off down the path leading to the spaceship.  
  
School was out for another weekend. She walked home in the warm, mid- October sun with eyes cast downward toward the ground. She wasn't depressed or anything, a little lonely maybe, but not depressed. She just found the ground more interesting than the afternoon sky. Plus, her light blue eyes were quite a bit light sensitive, so looking at the ground was less painful, and, while she still had to squint her eyes some, she didn't have to squint them quite as much.  
While walking along the sidewalk and inspecting the ground traveling in front of her, she saw a faint sparkle coming from the grass near one of the small pine trees beside the path. She walked over to the tree and bent down to inspect the patch of earth where she had noticed the sparkle. She reached out her long, slender arm and ran her fingers through the grass, hoping to find whatever it was that had caught her eye. She spent several minutes pawing at the ground, trying to find the sparkling item that was the current object of her curiosity. She had crawled around the tree in search at least three times, but each time she turned up empty-handed. She even began to consider the possibility that maybe the sparkle she had seen, or thought she saw, was just a glare from sun reflecting off of her glasses. However, something told her to keep looking. Five more minutes passed without any sign of the mysterious object, and she began to lose hope. Suddenly, she spotted the sparkle again and instantly made her way over to its source. She reached into the grass and pulled out. a small sliver of silver glass.  
'That's all it was, you stupid girl,' she silently laughed at herself as she stared at the piece of glass, 'just a dumb piece of glass.' As she stood up and started to walk away, her laughs slowly increased in volume. By the time she time she threw the glass into a bush before crossing the street to her house, it would have obvious to anyone standing within a couple feet of her that she was laughing. She didn't know why she kept laughing like that, but she kept on just the same.  
When she reached the front door of her house, the feeling that had urged her to keep looking for that shining object was suddenly renewed. She had no idea why, I mean, she had already found what had caught her eye. It was just that little piece of glass, but no matter how much she tried to tell herself that, she still found herself longing to search beneath the tree just once more. Before she even reached the door handle, she was turning around to resume her search. She walked all the way back to the exact spot in which she had first seen the sparkle and, once again, dropped down to her knees and ran her fingers through the grass.  
After only a few short minutes, she found what she had been looking for the entire time. She grasped her hand around her mysterious treasure and pulled it from the grass. Then, with a surprised look on her face, she examined the three circular spheres she held in her palm.  
"That's weird." She said aloud as she held them up into the sunlight to watch it gleam off their surfaces. "Who would be careless enough to leave three beautiful, perfectly round gems laying here in the grass? Oh well, guess whoever used to own these didn't need them all that much. They're mine now." She shoved the gems in her pocket and walked back home.  
  
A/N Well, I know it's short, but this is just a sample of what's to come. I have the rough drafts for several chapters already written, but I won't go through the trouble of revising and typing them up if no one will read them. So if you like this story and want to see what happens next. SEND ME REVIEWS!!!! You can send them to me at my email address (TigerGem5665@yahoo.com) or you can IM me and tell me what you thought. My screen name is TigerGem5665 (surprise, surprise). Please R&R. The next chapter will cover what happens when Kagato comes to Earth in search of Washu's gems. Don't miss it! 


	2. Chapter 1: Bakyaku

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tenchi Muyo. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfics, I'd be writing episodes. Some very rich people own Tenchi Muyo, and I envy them. I also beg them not to sue me. I'm just a pathetic fan. Besides, I'm very attached to my penny, (that's right, all the money I have is a penny, ONE penny) and I don't want it taken from me.  
  
Souki (Remembering)  
  
Chapter1: Bakyaku (Reveal One's True Colors)  
  
She felt wonderful; she had never felt so good in her life. She had spent the entire day at a marching competition and had never had so much fun. The band was able to pull away with first place trophies in everything, which was something they hadn't done in years. Everyone had been so excited; the buses were louder than she could ever remember them being.  
  
It was now long past midnight, but that didn't matter to her. She loved being out under the stars; they were so comforting to her. She loved being able to look up into the sky, something she could never even hope to do while the sun was out. She couldn't understand why people favored the sun over the moon. When did the moon ever hurt anyone? Never. Much unlike the sun, which could be fatal at times.  
  
She walked along the sidewalk to her house admiring the silvery glow of the moon and stars. It was the perfect touch to the darkness of night, and she loved it. This was the exact reason she had turned down every offer she had gotten for a ride home. It wasn't that far to walk, and besides, for some reason she just didn't feel comfortable accepting a ride from anyone, not even one of her closest friends, not that they were really that close when she thought about it. However, she chose not to think about that tonight, so, all those thoughts aside, she was a very happy person. She continued her short journey home with a smile on her face and her gaze cast up toward the lonely moon.  
  
"I believe you have something that belongs to me," a deep voice came from behind her. She stopped walking but didn't turn around. Instead she just stood there and stared at the moon. "Didn't you hear me?" The voice asked growing irritated. "You have something that belongs to me, and I want it."  
  
"Of course I heard you, but I can't possibly have anything of yours, considering I don't even know you." She replied calmly.  
  
"How is it that you know that when you haven't turned to see who I am? I could be someone you met long ago, or very recently, and just don't remember." The voice replied.  
  
"Your voice isn't familiar," she stated as she turned around to look at him. "I would recognize it if I had heard it before."   
  
He was surprised to see that she remained calm even after seeing his appearance.  
  
'How can she not be afraid of me?' he thought 'Surely she has never seen anyone like me before, and there's no way she could possibly remember me; she was much too young. Unless… No! There is no way she can remember what happened. No one would be able to remember something that happened when they were just a baby. It has to be the gems.' Finally, after much careful thought, he found his voice and began to speak. "My name is Kagato, and I insist that you have something of mine."  
  
"I don't care what your name is." She said very truthfully. "I don't have anything that belongs to you. I would say it was nice talking to you, but that would be a lie. Goodbye, Kagato." She began to walk away into the darkness. Kagato was stunned, yet again, at her calm attitude.  
  
'I knew she was powerful, but how can she be so calm and together when she was raised on Earth? She doesn't even know what she is or how much power she holds.' He thought to himself as he tried to figure out a way for her to realize how serious he was being. "Megan," he called after her, "give me my gems." Megan stopped dead in her tracks and whipped her body around so that she was facing him.  
  
"How do you know my name?" She asked him, the calmness in her voice almost completely gone. "And how do you know about the gems?"  
  
"I see I finally made you lose your cool." He smirked.  
  
"Just tell me how you know." She said, the calmness returning to her voice. Never once did she take her eyes off of Kagato since she turned around again. She was studying his every move in hopes of finding some kind of weakness she could use against him if need be.  
  
"I have known your name longer than you have," He replied as a matter of factly. "As for the gems, I told you that you have something of mine, and I wasn't kidding."  
  
"You still haven't answered my question. How do you know?" She had regained her calmness on the outside, but she was very scared inside. She didn't know whom this Kagato guy was, but he seemed to know quite a bit about her.  
  
"I can see I'm going to have to explain a lot to you," Kagato sighed.  
  
"Yes, that sounds like a very good idea; start explaining." Megan replied.  
  
"Alright, but no matter what I say, you cannot interrupt me. I will not tolerate it. You may not believe some of it, but just keep listening, and it will all become clear." He explained.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she replied, not paying him much attention. "Get on with the story already; I don't have all the time in the world."  
  
"You have more time than you think," he mumbled under his breath.  
  
"Excuse me? What was that you mumbled just now?" She asked, slightly agitated.  
  
"Oh, umm, absolutely nothing, just thinking to myself." He replied, perhaps a little too quickly. 'That was close,' he thought, 'I'll have to be more careful around her.'  
  
"Well, I have to begin by telling you that you are not who you think you are." Megan was about to speak, but just as she opened her mouth, Kagato held up a hand to stop her. "You are not from here and your true name is not Megan."  
  
"WHAT?! What do you mean my name isn't Megan? Of course my name is Megan; it has always been Megan! And what do you mean I'm not from here?!" She screamed at him, making him wonder where that remarkably calm girl from just a few minutes ago disappeared too.  
  
"I told you not to interrupt me!" Kagato screamed back, sounding very annoyed. "If you'd just be patient, you'd get all of your answers."  
  
"But what you're telling me is completely ridiculous!" She yelled back with only a little less intensity than before.  
  
"Just let me finish," he said with such a tone in voice that even the toughest and most fearless of people would be quiet and listen.  
  
"Alright…go on." She replied hesitantly.  
  
"Okay, as I was saying, you are not from here and you name is not Megan. Your name is Rina, and you are the princess of a planet named Sindeeri." He began.  
  
"I'm a princess?" Megan asked, shocked.  
  
Kagato scowled at her because of her interruption. "Yes," he said roughly. "Now shut up and quit interrupting me every time I say something." Megan looked at him apologetically, and he continued. "You are believed to be the most powerful Sindeerian ever born, and because of that, your parents did everything in their power to protect you while you were a baby."  
  
"Why would they need to protect me?" She asked, her eyes still looking at him apologetically for her constant interruptions.  
  
"Because Sindeeri was in the middle of a war at the time you were born. As the only heir to the throne, you were in terrible danger. Your parents wanted to send you someplace where the enemies could never find you, someplace safe." Kagato continued, surprised that he had been able to say so much without her speaking again. "They chose a small planet that nearly no one had ever heard of and trusted me, as your father's top advisor, to get you there safely."  
  
"And that planet was Earth." Megan interrupted yet again.  
  
"No, that planet didn't have a name." He explained as he glared at her. "You were being sent to a planet that very few people knew existed. There was almost no record of that planet at all. If it had had a name, it would have been found by your planet's enemies very easily."  
  
"So how did I end up here?" As she asked the question, Kagato sighed, knowing that nothing would keep her from interrupting him again and again.  
  
"Well, by the time your parents finalized the decision to send you into hiding, the enemies had breached the Sindeerian frontlines. Your parents had to speed up the process of sending you away by several hours." He said. "In the mass chaos of the invasion, the coordinates of your destination were entered wrong."  
  
"Ok, no problem, right? You just wrote down the new coordinates and everything was fine." She interjected.  
  
"No," he replied, "There was a slight problem. The computers were programmed to delete all records involving you and your escape exactly ten seconds after you departed. There wasn't enough time to cancel the deletion or write down the new coordinates."  
  
"If what your saying is true, which I really don't think could possibly be, then… I've been lost for the past 15 years." Megan concluded in a near whisper. "But why haven't they been looking for me? They're the emperor and empress of an entire planet! Why am I just now learning of this?!"  
  
"Actually, they have been looking for you since the war ended three years after you left, but you must understand that the universe is very big." He replied, pretending to be sympathetic. Megan picked up on his act, but let it slide.  
  
"So I assume the emperor and empress are okay if they've been looking for me for the past twelve years." She said.  
  
"Your mother is fine, but your father…" Kagato began, purposely baiting her.  
  
"Just tell me!" She yelled at him impatiently. "I don't have time for this! I have to go home sometime tonight!"  
  
"You sure are pushy, aren't you?" Kagato chided, but continued his story after receiving an evil glare from Megan. "In the very last battle of the war, your father had to fight with the Sindeerian troops due to their lack of soldiers. Your mother and I advised him against it, saying it would be too dangerous a risk, but he insisted. He said it was an honor to be able to fight along side his army. Your mother was practically in tears from knowing that her husband could be seriously injured, or worse, in this battle. The emperor claimed that his own health meant nothing to him; the only thing that mattered was winning the war and bringing you back home."  
  
"I never knew anyone could sacrifice so much for a baby that might not even be alive anymore." Megan thought out loud. Kagato ignored her and continued on.  
  
"The battle lasted for many hours. Your mother was a nervous-wreck the entire time, as there were no status reports; no one could be certain of who was winning; not that there was anyone to report it if they had been sure. Every available person was fighting to ensure victory.  
  
"Finally, after a huge attack that caused Sindeeri most of it's troops, the battle was won, but not before your father suffered a massive blow, poisoning him with an unknown and, therefore, incurable toxin." Kagato looked down at Megan whose eyes were glistening with tears. He thought about feigning sympathy again, but he decided against it, knowing full well that, somehow, she could tell that he didn't really care at all.  
  
He continued on once again, "Your father made it back to the palace with the help of a few of his loyal knights. Many of the best Sindeerian scientists and priests and priestesses began working day and night to find a cure for the poison. All the rest, including many nobles, were searching the galaxy for signs of you."  
  
"…Ten years," Megan said quietly, almost inaudible, "he died…he's been dead…for ten years. I, I didn't even know him…he died trying to save…me." Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears.  
  
"Yes, but obviously he wasn't strong enough to keep you safe on your own planet." Kagato said coldly. A tear made it's way down Megan's cheek, but just as soon as it got there, it was brushed away, and her eyes were as dry as if they'd never held tears before.  
  
"Part of me was very moved by that story and wants to believe it, but another part of me says that you cannot be trusted." She said in a dry tone. "As long as part of me says that, I cannot believe a single word you say. Your fake concern and sympathy hasn't helped you much either. Now, I must be getting home. My parents must have been expecting me for a while now." And with that, she turned around and began to walk away. Kagato was momentarily stunned.  
  
'That was completely unexpected,' he thought, 'I thought for sure she believed it. Her emotions were so real…I just don't get it.' "Give me the gems, Megan" he said sternly. Megan turned around with a clear look of annoyance on her face.  
  
"Give it up Kagato! You're not getting these gems, and I'm not listening to you anymore. I really have to get home." She said. To Kagato it sounded almost as if she was pleading him.  
  
"What if I could prove to you that my story is true, that it really happened?" He asked, "Would you listen to me then?" He was desperately trying to find a way to get those gems from her, and the best way at this moment was to get her to believe the story.  
  
"Fine," she said flatly, "you have one chance to prove that your story is true, then I leave." Kagato let out a silent sigh of relief.  
  
"Good," he said. Megan could easily tell just how relieved he was that she agreed to hear him out once more.  
  
'He reveals to many of his feelings to me,' she thought. 'But he acts so much differently than anyone I've ever met before does. How is it I can read his feelings so well?'  
  
"There is just one thing you must do for me to prove that everything I've told you is true." He stated.  
  
"You're not getting the gems, Kagato!" She exclaimed, jumping to conclusions.  
  
"That's not what I was going to ask you to do." He replied, trying to sound hurt by her words. "I was going to ask you to think about something for me."  
  
"Think about what?" She asked impatiently.  
  
"I need you to think about your Sindeerian form." He answered.  
  
"Even if I had a Sindeerian form," she began, "I wouldn't have any idea what it would look like."  
  
"Well let's pretend that you have one for right now." He said. "You don't have to know anything about it; just concentrate on transforming into it and out of your Earthling form."  
  
"Alright, let's say I do have a Sindeerian form, but I still don't know what it looks like or how to change into it. What good will thinking about it do?" She questioned.  
  
"I just told you how to transform. Think about your form; you don't have to know what it looks like." He replied   
  
"Oh." She said with a dumbfounded expression on her face, but the look quickly turned to spite as she spat out her next words. "You could've told me that in the first place! Why does everything with you have to be so vague?"  
  
"Just do it already!" He commanded. Megan gave him a look that seemed to say, "How dare you command me to do anything."   
  
"Okay, I'll humor you, but nothing will happen." She said, still not believing a word he said to her. She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths while Kagato stood there impatiently. She began concentrating on her transformation, letting everything else slip from her mind. After just a few moments, her body began to change before Kagato's very eyes.  
  
'Finally,' he thought, 'she'll believe me now.'  
  
Megan couldn't feel her body changing. She couldn't feel anything; she couldn't hear anything, and if she had opened her eyes, she wouldn't have been able to see anything. She didn't even know that her entire body had been engulfed by a neon green light.  
  
Kagato watched as the light faded and Megan's body came back into view. She was standing there in her Sindeerian form, eyes still closed. She stood there silently as her senses slowly began to back to her.  
  
'Everything feels so different.' She thought as she opened her eyes. As she looked around the landscape around her, she began to realize that everything was much bigger than it had been before. "You shrunk me!" She screamed at Kagato. "You jerk! You got me to let my guard down, and then you shrunk me! How could you?"  
  
"I could have shrunken you very easily actually, and it is true that are smaller than before, but I did nothing to you." Kagato replied calmly.  
  
"I don't believe you!" Megan screamed back. Tears of anger were welling up in her eyes.  
  
"Fine, if you don't believe me, then look for yourself." He replied as a mirror appeared in his hands. He flashed the mirror at Megan, and she raised her hand to her mouth in shock when she saw her reflection. She couldn't believe her eyes; in fact, she couldn't believe that those were her eyes she was looking into. She saw the reason for he thinking she had shrunk. In all actuality, she had. She was now only the size of a toddler, three years old at the most.  
  
She gazed into the mirror for what seemed like the longest time trying to take in all the changes. Her once bright blue eyes were now lavender. Her lightly tanned, freckled skin was now a perfect shade of alabaster; her complexion as clear and bright as if it had never been touched by anything before. Her tiny limbs amazed her to no end, but her biggest shock was her hair. She hadn't noticed it at first; she had been to transfixed on her eyes, but now that she saw it, she was shocked. She used to have shoulder-length, dirty blonde hair, but it was no where near that now. Her hair had become a bright, lime green. It hung down just past her chin in five gravity-defying spikes. The bottom half-inch or so of each spike was wrapped in lavender string, with a small length of string trailing down a little ways from the tip. From the end of each string, hung a glass sphere, much like the ones she had found in the grass, only colored differently. Four of them were the same size as the ones from the grass, but the fifth was almost three times as big.  
  
Her clothes were the strangest things she had ever seen. The top had a high collar that came to the tips of her hair and jutted out almost the entire length of her shoulders. The front of the collar formed a narrow U-shape, tracing the shape of her small collarbone. The rest of the top was fairly tight, fitting her like a bodysuit. The whole thing was a vibrant red with lime green accents to match her hair and made of a very smooth fabric, the Sindeerian equivalent of silk.  
  
The bottom of her outfit was truly unique. A skirt started with the same shape as her collar at her waist, with the U-shape outlining the her navel, and continued down to her ankles. The part around her waist was roughly the same material as her top, while the rest of the skirt consisted of chains of amethysts and moss agates. Each gem was perfectly round and smooth and accented her hair and eyes just right. Underneath the skirt she wore white legging of the same material and tightness as her top. Perhaps what amazed her most about her outfit though, was the large, floating, platinum ring encircling her midsection. It left her with plenty of room to have full use of her arms and hands, and she found that no matter how hard she tried to touch it, she just didn't seem to be able to.  
  
To her surprise, her shoes seemed pretty normal in design. They were the same color red as her top and had the appearance of Asian-style slipper-shoes. After seeing the rest of her outfit, she didn't care much what her shoes looked like; she was just glad that they were as comfortable as the rest of it.  
  
No matter how comfortable this form was, the change was still too much to handle. She had gone from a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, fifteen year old Earthling, to a short, lime green haired, lavender eyed, three year old Sindeerian. It just couldn't be happening.  
  
"What did you do to me?" She cried out. "Why did you make me look like this?"  
  
Kagato sighed heavily at her questions. "I already told you I didn't do anything to you. You transformed into your Sindeerian form. All I did was tell you how."  
  
"I…I believe you" She said sheepishly. 'I can't believe I just said that,' she thought afterwards.  
  
"Good. So do you believe that the gems are mine now?" He asked hopefully.  
  
"Absolutely not!" She spat. "Why should I believe that? I know it's not true."  
  
"I suppose I had that coming, but I can make you a wonderful offer." His eyes brightened as he spoke, hoping she would take the offer.  
  
"Oh? And what would that be?" she asked him with half-interest.  
  
"If you give me the gems, I can help you learn how to use them. You're the only being powerful enough to do so." He said. 'For now.' He added as an afterthought in his mind.  
  
"No." She answered simply.  
  
"Why not?" He asked. Megan snickered a bit at the tinge of whining in his voice. It was hilarious to her to hear a tough, grown man talk like that.  
  
"I already told you that you aren't going to get these gems, Kagato." She explained simply. He frowned at this, and his eyes filled with anger. At that point, for the first time since he appeared, she began to fear for her safety, especially being in this toddler form of hers. 'I wonder…' She thought. She began to focus on her earthling form and transforming back into it. She closed her eyes and began to change forms, recovering much quicker this time.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Kagato asked astonished.  
  
"As powerful as that form felt, I figured I'd be able to control this one much better. Not to mention the fact that I don't know how to use any of that power I felt coursing through my body." She answered seeming awfully full of herself.  
  
'She's much more cocky in this form than the Sindeerian one.' He thought. Then an idea came to him. "I could teach you how to use your powers," he offered.  
  
"I think I'll pass. Trusting you would be like sticking my arm in a shark's mouth and trusting the shark not to bite it off." She replied as she turned to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really must be going."  
  
"Give me the gems, Megan!" He grumbled loudly. She whipped around on the ball of her foot to face him again. Anger filled her eyes, and they flickered as if they were flames when she stared into his.  
  
"No." She spoke in a low roar. Kagato flinched at what he saw before his eyes. "How many times do I have to say NO to you?" She asked, her voice still in a low roar, and her eyes still filled with anger. She stood there looking at him with her hands clenched into fists, and her long fingernails digging into her palms. However, her anger was so great that she didn't even notice the pain. Her eyes were twitching from the sheer intensity of her anger.  
  
She noticed him flinch and decided to taunt him. "What, I get a little angry and all of a sudden you cower in fear?" She teased with spite and anger still filling her voice. Kagato regained his composure but still seemed a little wary of her.  
  
"I only flinched at your appearance, not your anger." He replied with a voice full of terror as he held the mirror up for her to look into it again. She gasped as she saw the monstrous form she had unknowingly taken. As her anger was replaced by horror, she returned to her previous form without even trying.  
  
"What was that!? What did I become!?" She shrieked. The monster form, that was no longer visible, was truly horrific. Her eyes had glowed with a blood red light where they should have been white. The irises of her eyes had returned to the lavender they had been in Sindeerian form and became blindingly pale. She had grown several feet, showing off an extremely muscular build. Her hair had become lime green once again, and her skin turned scaly and lavender-gray. Her fingernails and toenails had become long, thick, curving claws capable of ripping apart anything that got in her way. In fact, she had looked almost reptilian. 'How did I become that?' She wondered.   
  
"That was something I didn't expect you to be able to do," Kagato began to explain. "It's basically a defense strategy of the Sindeerians."  
  
"A defense strategy?" She questioned.  
  
"Yes, but as I said, I did not expect you to be able to do that." He began explaining again. "You see, it's a very difficult strategy to learn. Only the strongest, most powerful Sindeerians can ever achieve it, and even then they can only hold it for a few seconds. Which is long enough for the enemy to catch a glimpse of it and be frightened out of their mind, hopefully. You, on the other hand, held that form for at least a full minute without even trying. I'm sure you would have held it even longer if I hadn't frightened you by showing it to you."  
  
"Wait a minute," Megan interrupted. "You're telling me I shouldn't have been able to do that?"  
  
"Exactly." He answered. "Even the Sindeerians that can achieve that form for that split second had to train for decades, centuries even, to do so. You didn't even know that feat existed and yet, you were able to hold it longer than anyone else could ever hope too. I've never seen one of those forms be anywhere near as frightening as yours was either."   
  
Kagato was really beginning to like this situation. She was stronger than he had expected, making her even more perfect for him to use. All he had to do was get the gems from her.  
  
'If only she didn't have so much spirit…' He thought.  
  
"Wow, this is really a lot to take in at one time," she said sleepily before yawning. "Excuse me, I'm going home to bed now."  
  
"Give me the gems and you'll never need sleep again. I'll show you how to use their power to give you energy." He persisted. Megan just kept on walking. More than likely she was ignoring him, but she could have been too sleepy to hear him. "Give me the gems or you'll be sorry," he continued, growing angry. "This is your last chance." Still, Megan just kept on walking. She was tired of standing out there listening to him and wanted to go to bed. She had made up her mind as soon as she met him not to trust him, and she wasn't going to going to give him the gems no matter how many times he demanded or asked.  
  
'Fine,' Kagato thought, 'if nothing I say makes her trust me enough to work with me, then she'll just have to die! She's got too much spirit to be of any use to me anyway.' He began to form an energy blast in his hands. 'I'll just have to take the gems by force.'  
  
"KAGATO!!!NO!!!!" A nasal-voice screamed from behind him, but it was too late; the blast had already left his hands. Megan turned around to see the blast hurdling at her at full speed…  
  
A/N  
  
Mwahahaha! I hope you all love my cliffhanger! *evil grin*  
  
Will Megan get out of the path of the blast in time, or will she stand there like the proverbial dear in the headlights? If hit, will she be blown to pieces, or will she suffer before dying a painful death, or could she possibly even…survive? And who is that nasal-voiced person that screamed a second to late? All this and more revealed in Chapter 2: Ippi (A Helping Hand).  
  
Please read and review!!! I need reviews for inspiration! It took me hours to type this chapter up! Please tell me I'm not wasting my time! 


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